File: help2man.info,  Node: Top,  Next: Overview,  Up: (dir)

`help2man'
**********

   `help2man' produces simple manual pages from the `--help' and
`--version' output of other commands.

* Menu:

* Overview::                    Overview of `help2man'.
* Invoking help2man::           How to run `help2man'.
* Including text::              Including additional text in the output.
* --help recommendations::	Recommended formatting for --help output.
* Makefile usage::              Using `help2man' with `make'.
* Reports::                     Reporting bugs or suggestions.
* Availability::                Obtaining `help2man'.

File: help2man.info,  Node: Overview,  Next: Invoking help2man,  Prev: Top,  Up: Top

Overview of `help2man'
**********************

   `help2man' is a tool for automatically generating simple manual
pages from program output.

   Although manual pages are optional for GNU programs other projects,
such as Debian require them (*note Man Pages: (standards)Man Pages.)

   This program is intended to provide an easy way for software authors
to include a manual page in their distribution without having to
maintain that document.

   Given a program which produces reasonably standard `--help' and
`--version' outputs, `help2man' can re-arrange that output into
something which resembles a manual page.

File: help2man.info,  Node: Invoking help2man,  Next: Including text,  Prev: Overview,  Up: Top

How to Run `help2man'
*********************

   The format for running the `help2man' program is:

     `help2man' [OPTION]... EXECUTABLE

   `help2man' supports the following options:

`-n STRING'
`--name=STRING'
     Use STRING as the description for the `NAME' paragraph of the
     manual page.

     By default (for want of anything better) this paragraph contains
     `manual page for PROGRAM VERSION'.

     This option overrides an include file `[name]' section (*note
     Including text::).

`-s SECTION'
`--section SECTION'
     Use SECTION as the section for the man page.  The default section
     is 1.

`-m MANUAL'
`--manual=MANUAL'
     Set the name of the manual section to SECTION, used as a centred
     heading for the manual page.  By default `User Commands' is used
     for pages in section 1, `Games' for section 6 and `System
     Administration Utilities' for sections 8 and 1M.

`-S SOURCE'
`--source=SOURCE'
     The program source is used as a page footer, and often contains
     the name of the organisation or a suite of which the program is
     part.  By default the value is the package name and version.

`-i FILE'
`--include=FILE'
     Include material from FILE (*note Including text::).

`-I FILE'
`--opt-include=FILE'
     A variant of `--include' for use in Makefile pattern rules which
     does not require FILE to exist.

`-o FILE'
`--output=FILE'
     Send output to FILE rather than `stdout'.

`-N'
`--no-info'
     Suppress inclusion of a `SEE ALSO' paragraph directing the reader
     to the Texinfo documentation.

`--help'
`--version'
     Show help or version information.

   By default `help2man' passes the standard `--help' and `--version'
options to the executable although alternatives may be specified using:

`-h OPTION'
`--help-option=OPTION'
     help option string

`-v OPTION'
`--version-option=OPTION'
     version option string

File: help2man.info,  Node: Including text,  Next: --help recommendations,  Prev: Invoking help2man,  Up: Top

Including Additional Text in the Output
***************************************

   Additional static text may be included in the generated manual page
by using the `--include' and `--opt-include' options (*note Invoking
help2man::).

   The format for files included with these option is simple:

     [section]
     text

     /pattern/
     text

   Blocks of verbatim *roff text are inserted into the output either at
the start of the given `[section]' (case insensitive), or after a
paragraph matching `/pattern/'.

   Patterns use the Perl regular expression syntax and may be followed
by the `i', `s' or `m' modifiers (*note perlre(1): (*manpages*)perlre.)

   Lines before the first section or pattern which begin with `-' are
processed as options.  Anything else is silently ignored and may be
used for comments, RCS keywords and the like.

   The section output order is:

     NAME
     SYNOPSIS
     DESCRIPTION
     OPTIONS
     EXAMPLES
     _other_
     AUTHOR
     REPORTING BUGS
     COPYRIGHT
     SEE ALSO

   Any `[name]' or `[synopsis]' sections appearing in the include file
will replace what would have automatically been produced (although you
can still override the former with `--name' if required).

   Other sections are prepended to the automatically produced output for
the standard sections given above, or included at _other_ (above) in
the order they were encountered in the include file.

File: help2man.info,  Node: --help recommendations,  Next: Makefile usage,  Prev: Including text,  Up: Top

`--help' Recommendations
************************

   Here are some recommendations for what to include in your `--help'
output.  Including these gives `help2man' the best chance at generating
a respectable man page, as well as benefitting users directly.

   *Note Command-Line Interfaces: (GNU Coding Standards)Command-Line
Interfaces, and *Note Man Pages: (GNU Coding Standards)Man Pages, for
the official GNU standards relating to `--help' and man pages.

   * A synopsis of how to invoke the program.  If different usages of
     the program have different invocations, then list them all.  For
     example (edited for brevity):

          Usage: cp [OPTION]... SOURCE DEST
            or:  cp [OPTION]... SOURCE... DIRECTORY
          ...

     Use `argv[0]' for the program name in these synopses, just as it
     is, with no directory stripping.  This is in contrast to the
     canonical (constant) name of the program which is used in
     `--version'.

   * A very brief explanation of what the program does, including
     default and/or typical behavior.  For example, here is `cp''s:

          Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.

   * A list of options, indented to column 2.  If the program supports
     one-character options, put those first, then the equivalent long
     option (if any).  If the option takes an argument, include that
     too, giving it a meaningful name.  Align the descriptions in a
     convenient column, if desired.  Note that to be correctly
     recognised by `help2man' the description must be separated from
     the options by at least two spaces and descriptions continued on
     subsequent lines must start at the same column.

     Here again is an (edited) excerpt from `cp', showing a short
     option with an equivalent long option, a long option only, and a
     short option only:

            -a, --archive                same as -dpR
                --backup[=CONTROL]       make a backup of each ...
            -b                           like --backup but ...

     For programs that take many options, it may be desirable to split
     the option list into sections such as `Global', `Output control',
     or whatever makes sense in the particular case.  It is usually
     best to alphabetize (by short option name first, then long) within
     each section, or the entire list if there are no sections.

   * Any useful additional information about program behavior, such as
     influential environment variables, further explanation of options,
     etc.  For example, `cp' discusses `VERSION_CONTROL' and sparse
     files.

   * A few examples of typical usage, at your discretion.  One good
     example is usually worth a thousand words of description, so this
     is highly recommended.

   * In closing, a line stating how to email bug reports.  Typically,
     MAILING-ADDRESS will be `bug-PROGRAMATgnu.org'; please use this
     form for GNU programs whenever possible.  It's also good to
     mention the home page of the program, other mailing lists, etc.


   The `argp' and `popt' programming interfaces let you specify option
descriptions for `--help' in the same structure as the rest of the
option definition; you may wish to consider using these routines for
option parsing instead of `getopt'.

File: help2man.info,  Node: Makefile usage,  Next: Reports,  Prev: --help recommendations,  Up: Top

Using `help2man' With `make'
****************************

   A suggested use of `help2man' in Makefiles is to have the manual
page depend not on the binary, but on the source file(s) in which the
`--help' and `--version' output are defined.

   This usage allows a manual page to be generated by the maintainer and
included in the distribution without requiring the end-user to have
`help2man' installed.

   An example rule for the program `prog' could be:

     prog.1: $(srcdir)/main.c
             -$(HELP2MAN) --output=$@ --name='an example program' ./prog

   The value of `HELP2MAN' may be set in `configure.in' using either of:

     AM_MISSING_PROG(HELP2MAN, help2man, $missing_dir)

   for `automake', or something like:

     AC_PATH_PROG(HELP2MAN, help2man, false // No help2man //)

   for `autoconf' alone.

File: help2man.info,  Node: Reports,  Next: Availability,  Prev: Makefile usage,  Up: Top

Reporting Bugs or Suggestions
*****************************

   If you find problems or have suggestions about this program or
manual, please report them to <bug-help2manATgnu.org>.

File: help2man.info,  Node: Availability,  Prev: Reports,  Up: Top

Obtaining `help2man'
********************

   The latest version of this distribution is available on-line from:

     <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/help2man/>;